


Day 17 Prompt Fill: Soulmates

by tikkikwami



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast), The Adventure Zone: Amnesty (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, M/M, Prompt Fill, Trans Duck Newton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 20:17:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21082496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tikkikwami/pseuds/tikkikwami
Summary: Duck and Indrid each eagerly awaited the day they would meet their soulmate.





	Day 17 Prompt Fill: Soulmates

**Author's Note:**

> Credit to MorganEAshton for like half of this fic.
> 
> This is an idea I might want to expand upon later, but I figured a quick ficlet about it wouldn't hurt.
> 
> -
> 
> Prompt: “Soulmates” https://raepocalypse.tumblr.com/post/165947746613/fictober-prompts

*

It was his eighteenth birthday, and Duck was bleary-eyed as he got out of bed to smack his alarm clock. Standing up, he yawned and caught sight of himself in the mirror across the room. 

Duck gasped in shock and recoiled. Looking back at him was some sort of… monster! Heart beating fast, he approached the mirror. The being stared back at him, looking as scared as Duck felt. He put his hand on his cheek and they did the same. So they acted the same as his old reflection, just… they looked different. Very different. 

He knew everyone younger than their soulmate saw them in the mirror once they turned eighteen - or, if they were older than their soulmate, once their soulmate turned eighteen. And they looked the same way that they will when you meet them.

So Duck was younger than his soulmate, then. And his soulmate was… definitely not human. 

He leaned forward and looked at the creature’s large red eyes curiously. They had a cat-like slit as a pupil and dark red irises surrounded by a brighter red sclera. He looked at the mandibles beside their mouth, touching the space on his face where they would have been had his physical form matched the reflection. 

The creature seemed delighted, now. They were smiling and their antennae were standing up on end, as if they were excited. 

Duck realized how happy he was at that moment. He could see his _soulmate_, and one day, they would meet. He grinned at his reflection in happiness, then got distracted by the creature’s large teeth. “Oh, wow,” he said, opening his mouth and leaning closer.

There was a lot he wanted to learn about his soulmate. A lot. Starting with the fact that they weren’t human.

*

Indrid Cold was three hundred and twelve years old. He had long resigned himself to the fact that he was an anomaly: he had no soulmate. It had been centuries with no change in his reflection. He used to get bitter about it, but now he just accepted it as another part of himself. 

So when he caught sight of his reflection one day, he jumped back in shock, dropping his sketchpad. With shaking hands, he looked closer at his reflection. The person in the reflection looked deeply curious, eyes wide as he leaned in to match his movement. 

They were… human. Indrid marveled at the fact that he had a soulmate at all. No wonder it took so long! 

That meant today was his soulmate’s eighteenth birthday. He scrambled to his calendar to look at the date. December fourteenth. He grabbed a sharpie and circled the day, unable to stop a wide smile from spreading across his face. He knew his soulmate’s birthday!

Then he paused, considering what this meant. He looked back in the reflection. Staring back at him was a middle-aged man. 

He sighed forlornly. He’d have to wait a while longer before they met.

But he perked up as he noticed a detail. His shirt had a name embroidered on it. Newton. Was that his last name? Newton?

What was his first name? Indrid placed his hand on the mirror, smiling as the man did the same. He was handsome, he realized. Exactly Indrid’s type. 

Well, that was to be expected. They were _soulmates_, after all.

*

On Duck’s forty-third birthday, he opened his door to go to work and found a package on his doorstep. Confused, he picked it up. It was wrapped in brown paper with a white string, and a small tag on it: “To Duck.” 

The handwriting was hauntingly familiar. Where had he seen it before? _Had_ he seen it before? He couldn’t recall a single person who had this handwriting, but he recognized it all the same. 

He brought the package inside and opened it, wondering who had left it at his doorstep. 

Inside was the jacket he had been so close to buying himself for his birthday, but stopped at the last second. 

Duck marveled at it. How had this person known that this was exactly what he’d been wanting? His old winter jacket was worn and torn from all the years he’d had it, and this was the same model of jacket, luckily still being made after at least a decade. He slowly took off his jacket and hung it up on the hooks on the wall by his door and put on the new jacket. It was comfortable and warm. 

Befuddled but happy, Duck headed to work.

*

Indrid paced back and forth in his winnebago. He’d seen that Duck received his birthday present and was pleased with it, which made him happy. Although he hadn’t read the note in the pocket yet.

His name was “Duck,” which was apparently a nickname. He’d learned that from his visions. Duck Newton. His soulmate. 

Nervously, he picked up the phone. It was time to talk to him for the first time. When Aubrey answered, he asked for Duck, and then told him the carefully-rehearsed script: “Hello, Duck. In three minutes, your friend Leo Tarkesian is going to die. He will be crushed to death, as will the two customers currently shopping in his store. You might want to do something about that.” And then he hung up. 

Tears were welling in his eyes. It had been over three centuries, and he had finally spoken to his soulmate for the first time. He was so excited he didn’t know what to do with himself. 

*

Concerned, Duck looked at Aubrey. She was shaking. Poor thing. Her powers had nearly gotten away from her and somebody could have been hurt because of it. With a sympathetic sigh, he pulled off his jacket and placed it over Aubrey’s shoulders.

“Thanks,” Aubrey said with a sniffle, pulling it closer around herself. Then her eyebrows furrowed. “Is there paper in here?” 

“Uh, no?” 

Aubrey reached in the inner pocket where her hand had crumpled something. She pulled out what looked like a note and handed it to Duck. 

Deeply curious, he looked at it. It said:

_Indrid Cold_

_(555) 555-1234_

_Lot 112  
Eastwood Campgrounds  
Kepler, West Virginia_

“What is it?” Aubrey asked. 

Duck stared at the familiar handwriting. “I guess it’s whoever gave me the jacket,” he said. “Hold on, let’s get in the ambulance. You’re gonna be okay.”

*

When Jake ran into the room proclaiming he’d found the phone number of the mysterious caller, Duck had a strange feeling. And it was confirmed when he compared it to the number on the note from the jacket: they were the same number.

And then the phone rang, and Aubrey answered it. And after the conversation, she put the phone down with a funny look on her face. “It was the same guy. His name’s Indrid Cold? And he’s the mothman?” 

With a jolt, Duck stood up. Mothman? His soulmate? He stared at the note. “I’m gonna go,” he said. “I hope everybody heals up real quick.” He looked at Ned for a moment. “God, I hope he’s gonna be okay.” 

“He’ll be fine,” Mama said, patting Duck on the arm. “Get yourself home. Rest’ll be helpful.” 

“Sure. I’ll see y’all later.” 

*

Indrid stared at himself in the mirror. He just saw Duck looking back at him. He ran a brush through his hair again, and made triply sure he was wearing his nicest tank top. And even though he could see it coming, he jumped when he heard knocks on his door. 

He opened it with a nervous grin. He saw Duck’s hopeful face immediately fall with disappointment. Awkwardly, Indrid fidgeted with his hands. “Not who you were expecting?” he said, trying not to take it personally. 

“This’s gonna sound real weird, but I was kinda expecting a giant moth dude,” Duck said. “I’m sorry, I’m just- I’m just gonna go-” 

“No, wait,” Indrid said, pulling off his glasses. 

Duck gaped at him, then smiled brightly. “It’s you!”

“It’s me,” Indrid confirmed, laughing. He put his glasses back on, becoming human again. “Would you like to come inside?”

“Yeah,” Duck said, following him into the winnebago. He looked around curiously. “So you’re- you’re my soulmate?” He leaned in to look at a drawing tacked to the wall of Duck smiling. “How did you know I wanted the jacket?” 

“I’m a seer,” Indrid explained. “I’m from Sylvain. Her powers granted me future vision.” He stared at Duck. He looked _just_ like he always had in the reflection. “It’s so nice to see you, Duck. I have waited for a very long time.” 

“Well, yeah, me too,” Duck said, turning to him and grinning. “Can’t believe I finally get to meet you.” 

“Yeah,” Indrid breathed, stepping closer. He placed a hand on Duck’s cheek. “I’ve been counting the years until we could meet. I knew I had to wait until you were older.” 

Duck placed his hand on top of Indrid’s. “I didn’t get any real clues from your reflection,” he admitted. “Jus’ that you weren’t human. And that you’re real cute.” 

Indrid felt his cheeks darken with a blush. “W-what?” Nobody had ever said that about his sylph form before. 

“I mean, this form’s cute, too,” Duck backtracked. “I just- I’m just used to lookin’ at the mothy version. It’s… well, it’s a little weird to say, but it’s the face I’ve been fallin’ in love with for the last twenty-five years.” 

Indrid laughed breathlessly before pulling off his glasses. “There we go,” Duck said, sounding pleased. He reached up and gently rubbed one of Indrid’s mandibles, and he purred. “Oh, you purr! That’s so fuckin’ cute!”

“I can’t believe you think I’m _cute_,” Indrid said, sitting on the couch. Duck sat beside him and ran a hand over his wing, making him close his eyes at the comfortable touch. 

“Why wouldn’t I?” Duck reached for his hand and grabbed it. “You’re my soulmate.” 

Indrid looked at him with a soft gaze. “I’m your soulmate,” he repeated. 

And he couldn’t wait to get to know Duck better.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments make my day!


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